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transform schooling as we know it, to help all students realise their
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Friday, September 11, 2015

Education Readings - for creative teachers who want to fight back

When Knowledge Is Unforgettable: Adults remember more of what they
learned in school than they think they do.

“Education-policy debates tend to focus on structural issues—things
like teacher quality, licensure requirements, and laws governing charter
schools. But research on human memory indicates that academic content and the
way it is sequenced—i.e., curriculum—are
vital determinants of educational outcomes, and they’re aspects that receive insufficient attention. In other words,
perhaps what matters most after all isn’t mental exercise.”

“The
different levels of brain activation, he said, suggest that children who have
more practice in developing those visual images, as they look at picture books
and listen to stories, may develop skills that will help them make images and
stories out of words later on.”

This topic
has been covered in earlier readings but is worth revisiting, especially as it
ends up discussing the use of images in note taking - the obvious connection
being Tony Buzan’s Mind Maps.

“While
unconventional, drawing as note-taking makes sense based on memory research,
which shows that if multiple ideas can be condensed into an image, the brain
stores all those related ideas as one. The image acts as a zip drive for
multiple ideas, helping to fit more into the limited short term memory.”

“Tinkering
with assessments is just rearranging the deck furniture on the titanic failure
of education reform. Real education reform will come when, and only when, we address
poverty, fund schools properly and honor the teaching profession with good pay
and the respect teachers deserve.”

The importance of play has been covered in a
number of previous readings - here’s
another excellent article.

“It
seems counter-intuitive to think that less classroom time and more outdoor play
would lead to a better education for kids. But longer time on task doesn’t equate to better results, only greater burnout. For years,
educators have tried different unsuccessful strategies – more
testing, more instruction– to reverse these trends. The answer,
however, is not more class time. It’s more play.”

“Many
educators already know this, but what to do about it? Educators can play a
crucial part in

helping kids to get comfortable with failure, which Lahey calls
“autonomy-supportive teaching” and goes
hand-in-hand with “autonomy-supportive parenting.”She
says there are ways educators can encourage parents to let go, and here are a
few.”

“Rethinking
learning environments will play an important role in education in the years to
come. Are you rehashing old models or covering new ground? Everyone who cares
deeply about education wants to find creative ways to engage the next
generation of learners. The thinking about these

spaces will continue to evolve
and change as we try them out and learn from these experiences. This is the design-thinking
process for creating the next generation of learning environments.”

When Educators Make Space For Play and Passion, Students Develop Purpose

“Harvard
education specialist Tony Wagner has been advocating that we reinvent the
education system to promote innovation for years. He’s clear that content should no longer be at the centre of school.
Instead, he says a teacher’s main job should be
to help

students develop key skills necessary for when they leave school. Take
15 minutes to watch his TED Talk – it would make
a great staffor parent meeting.”

Employers’ Challenge to Educators:
Make School Relevant to Students’ Lives

“Business
leaders and economic thinkers are worried that today’s students aren’t leaving school with
the skills they’ll need to succeed in the
workplace. They are looking for applicants who show individuality, confidence
in their abilities, ability to identify and communicate their strengths, and
who are capable of thinking on their feet.”

“An
interviewer once asked the late Ernest Hemingway to identify the
characteristics of a great writer. The interviewer asked, ‘Isn’t there any one essential ingredient that you
can identify?’ Hemingway replied, ‘Yes there is. In order to be a great
writer a person must have a built in, shockproof ‘crap detector’.Hemingway identified the essential future survival strategy and the
essential function of schools today. New ideas have only ever been developed
when people have challenged faulty assumptions and ideas.”

“Every
student brings with them memories and ideas gained from the experiences they
have had. All too often this personal form of motivation is overlooked by
teachers who seem to think they have better ideas to use - their own. It is as
if students come to school as blank slates ( tabula rosa) when instead they
come with a wealth of ideas to share but to do their ideas need to be valued.”

“If
teachers really thought hard about the conditions that students, as living
being, need to develop their learning potential then we wouldn’t have so many disenchanted or, worse still,
alienated students.We spent too much time wishing some students were different
and not enough on making learning 'inviting'.According to Carol Anne Tomlinson,
an American Educator, expert in differentiating learning, students care about
learning when their teachers ‘invite them to learn’ by meeting
their students’ needs for:‘affirmation, contribution, purpose, power and
challenge in the classroom’.”

“'Making
Learning Whole', written by David Perkins is a book all schools ought to
acquire because it will certainty help
them focus their teaching to integrate skills to ensure all their students are
equipped with the dispositions to thrive in an unknown future.It is certainly
aligned with the intent of the 'new' New Zealand Curriculum and provides
practical ideas to implement it.”